The was a conspiracy that took place in 866 and centered on the destruction of the main gate (''
Ōtenmon'') of the of the
Imperial Palace in
Kyoto
Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...
, Japan. This event is known to scholars today primarily based on the depiction of it in the narrative handscroll (''
emaki'') called ''
Ban Dainagon Ekotoba'' (The Picture-narrative of Great Minister Ban).
Minamoto no Makoto
was the seventh son of the Emperor of Japan, Japanese emperor Emperor Saga, Saga, and was the first courtier to be given the name Minamoto. Initially an honorary name given to a number of unrelated courtiers by a number of different emperors, th ...
, a member of the powerful
Minamoto clan
was a Aristocracy (class), noble surname bestowed by the Emperors of Japan upon members of the Imperial House of Japan, imperial family who were excluded from the List of emperors of Japan, line of succession and demoted into the ranks of Nobili ...
, was accused by his political rival
Tomo no Yoshio of having set the fire. However, Makoto had the support of the ''
Daijō-daijin'' (Chancellor of the Realm)
Fujiwara no Yoshifusa, and was cleared of the charges. Soon afterwards, however, a man claiming to have witnessed the event accused Tomo no Yoshio of setting the fire himself, along with his son. Yoshio was exiled to
Izu.
This event, and Fujiwara no Yoshifusa's handling of it, served Yoshifusa well, politically. Many of those executed were his political rivals, and he found himself promoted to Regent (''
Sesshō'') soon afterwards.
References
*Mills, Douglas E (1985). "Ōtemmon Conspiracy". ''Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan''. Tokyo: Kodansha Ltd.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Otenmon Conspiracy
866
860s in Japan